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Liberty Air Lines
This article is about the airline based in the United States. '' '''Liberty Air Lines, Inc.' ("Liberty"; NYSE: LIB) (commonly referred to simply as "Liberty") is an American Major Airline headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania .7 It is the world's 2nd largest airline when measured by number of destinations served.8 Liberty operates out of five Airline Hubs in the continental United States, three in Europe, Saipan and Japan.9 Philadelphia International Airport in Pennsylvania is Liberty's largest passenger carrying hub handling 17.4 million passengers annually with an average of 46,292 passengers daily,10 while Cincinnati is its largest hub in terms of daily departures. The company employs over 81,000 people while maintaining its headquarters in Philadelphia’s Liberty Place (1650 Arch St). 11 Through the airline's parent company, Liberty Air Lines Group, it is publicly traded under NYSE: LIB with a market capitalization of over $19 billion as of November, 2014.12 Liberty's main competitors in its domestic market are Pioneer Airways, Coastal Airways and Capitol Airlines. Liberty Air Lines is using Liberty's Air Operators Certificate and it surrendered California’s original certificate when the merger closed in January of 2015 As of November 2013 Liberty Express Airlines received $32,729,351 in annual Federal subsidies for World Air Services that they provided through Cloud-9 and JetWest to rural airports in the U.S. 13 'Predecessors' Liberty Air Lines has merged with multiple carriers since its formation in 1935, these have included Velocity Airways in 1967,10 World Airways in 1985,11 and California Airlines in 2014. 'Early History' Liberty Air Lines Group was developed from an organization of smaller airlines through acquisitions in the late 1930’s-1940’s12 Initially, Liberty Air Lines Group (LIBG) was a common brand by a number of independent carriers. These included Fly Cincinnati 13 in Ohio, Southern Airways14 in Florida, Tropical Airways15 in the Western United States, and Freedom Airlines17 in the Northeast. By 1946 Liberty Air Lines operated under one name (Liberty Air Lines) along with a transcontinental route network serving 72 cities, mostly in the northeast, west, and southeast United States.18 'Post War' After World War II Liberty Air Lines expanded their International service to serve Central Europe. In 1947, Liberty launched a subsidiary, Liberty Air Lines de Mexico, to fly to Mexico and South America (That airline shut down in May of 1949). Liberty Air Lines introduced transcontinental Boeing 707s on January 25th 1969 and invested $440 million in jet aircraft up to 1972; launched the first electronic booking system, Sabre, with IBM (the basis of today's Travelocity); and built a terminal at Cincinnati Airport in Ohio, which became the airline's largest base.23 In 1985 Liberty Air Lines merged with Velocity Airways and hired Lloyd Associates to design the renamed “Liberty Air” logo.24 The logo was in use until September 27, 1997. 1970 Liberty Air Lines expanded their Pacific route network through Tropical Airways’ Phoenix Hub in Arizona. On March 30, 1973 Liberty became the first major airline to operate an “all-Boeing fleet” after retiring their DC-9’s. They held that title until 1980; when the airline welcomed DC-10’s and L-1011’s into their fleet.26 '1980s–1990s' In the late 1980s, Liberty opened two new hubs. Los Angeles International Airport was added after Liberty purchased World Airways. Liberty also built a terminal at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and announced it as a hub in 1981 (Liberty dropped the hub in 1990). After merging with World Airways, Liberty introduced regional service on express aircraft to smaller cities around the country. Liberty built a regional terminal and a runway at Cincinnati for the growing Hub and to compete with Capitol Airlines’s hub in Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Liberty also planned a hub at Boston-Logan International Airport during the mid-1980s, but the airline didn’t have enough funding and was on the verge of filling for bankruptcy in 1993. Lower fuel prices and a favorable business climate led to higher profits in the 1990s. The new Minneapolis hub was abandoned in 1990 due to Pioneer Airways’ growth in MSP. During this time of concern over airline bankruptcies and falling stock prices brought a warning from Liberty’s CEO David Spanaway. Spanaway noted that since airline deregulation of the 1970s, 130 airlines had gone out of business. "A lot of people came into the airline business. Most of them promptly exited, minus their money", he said. “Its a tough time for us all”.32 Chicago O’Hare became a hub in 1999 after Liberty negotiated with the Chicago Board of Transit. It is now Liberty’s 4rd largest hub behind Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Salt Lake City. Through the 1990s, Liberty expanded its network in Latin America and South America to become the dominant U.S. carrier in the region. On October 15, 1998, Liberty became the first airline to offer electronic ticketing in the 28 countries it served at the time. In late 1998, Liberty ordered 40 Boeing 737-300’s and ordered 67 new Boeing 737-800’s. Its new Boeing 737’s replaced the aging 727’s and 707’s. '2000s' Liberty Air Lines began losing money in the economic downturn that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks, which lowered passenger numbers drastically. Liberty’s Treasurer; Paul Carter negotiated wage and benefit agreements with the unions but union leaders discovered he was planning to award executive compensation packages at the same time, and he was fired. Cin Xu replaced him later that year.26 The Phoenix hub was downsized in 2003, and Liberty introduced its new Business Class interior, The airline also expanded into new markets, including Ireland (partnering with Shannon Air), India (partnering with India Airlines), and mainland China (partnering with China Western). On July 20, 2005, Liberty announced a quarterly profit of $58 million in the second quarter of 2005. Liberty had repeated run-ins with the FAA regarding maintenance of its Boeing 757 fleet during 2007, canceling 1,000 flights to inspect wire bundles over three days in January of 2008, to make sure they complied with government safety regulations.42 Repair issues included such items as faulty emergency slides, improper engine coatings, incorrectly drilled holes, and other examples of shoddy workmanship by Boeing. In March 2008, the Associated Press and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall_Street_Journal The Wall Street Journal] reported that Liberty was planning on retiring the 757 from their fleet.4344 Liberty began the process of replacing its older 757 jets with Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s and ordered A321s. Liberty was a key player in the 2009-2011 restructuring of Belgian Airlines. In September 2009, Liberty Air Lines Group showed interest in buying part of the financially struggling airline,4547 In February 2010, Belgian officially announced that it would strengthen its relationship with Liberty and the Global Alliance.48 This led to an enhanced joint venture between Liberty and Belgian beginning April 1, 2009.49 '2010s' Liberty began a joint venture with London Airways and EuroLink in October 2010, and the partnership was officially approved by the USDOT on 20 July 2010.54 Liberty expanded its service to Asia in February 2010. Liberty planned to begin PHL-Tokyo service in January 2011, but postponed the service until February 2011 citing low booking demand.59 Liberty also began service between Los Angeles and Hong Kong in 201160 and between Phoenix and Tokyo in 2013,61 and from San Francisco to both Hong Kong and Tokyo in the summer of 2014, providing the first ever nonstop service between Phoenix and China.62 Liberty Air Lines placed a very large aircraft order at the Eugene National Air Show in July 2011, purchasing over 100 "next generation" Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft for delivery between 2013 and 2022. These aircraft were designated to replace Liberty's short and medium-haul fleet of 757-200 and 767-200’s68. Liberty announced to be the launch customer of the new Boeing 777-900X with an order for the first 30 aircraft. After ordering the 787-800 in 2007, Liberty became the second American carrier to receive the new composite Boeing 787 in July 2014. Liberty recieved their first Airbus A321 in 2011 and along with the introduction of upgraded transcontinental routes, Liberty introduced a new 1st class interior for those flights. Recently Liberty has dropped their Phoenix hub and opened a new one in Salt Lake City. Liberty's last day in Phoenix was March 10th. 69 'Merger with California ' Main article: ''Liberty–California merger'' On April 17, 2013, Liberty Air Lines Group and California Airlines Corp. officially announced that the two companies would merge to form the largest airline holding company in the world, with bondholders of Liberty’s parent company owning 83% of the new company and California shareholders owning the remaining 17%. The combined airline would carry the Liberty name and branding, while California's management team would retain most operational management positions. Judge Mark Rollins approved the merger in March 2014. The headquarters was moved from Cincinnati to Philadelphia in October of 2014.977 The merger is said to be completed by April of 2015. Corporate Affairs Headquarters ''' Liberty is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.84 The headquarters is located in two office buildings in the Liberty Place complex and these buildings together have about 1,400,000 square feet (130,000 m2) of space. As of 2014 over 5,800 employees work at this complex.85 Before the airline was headquartered in Pennsylvania, Liberty Air Lines was headquartered at 301 E 4th St in Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.8687 In October of 2014, Liberty moved its headquarters to a site in Downtown Philadelphia which affected up to around 1,000 jobs. The Mayor of Cincinnati described the move as a “betrayal".88 Liberty moved to two leased office buildings in Cincinnati while they finished the re-location and renovation of 1650 Arch st.89 The airline finished moving into a $150 million, 639,000-square-foot facility in Philadelphia on October 21, 2014. The airline began leasing the facility from the Pennsylvania Board of Transit, which owns the facility.89 Other facilities LIBG, Liberty's parent company, holds majority ownership stakes in two major travel and leisure companies. LIBG's subsidiaries include international hotel chains Waldorf_Astoria_Hotels &_Resorts and Hilton Hotels Corporation9091 Liberty uses these connections to put up crew members while they are traveling or have a lay-over that exceeds 24 hours. '''Sponsorships The Academy Awards Starbucks Coffee Philadelphia Eagels The Breast Cancer Research Foundation Cincinnati Bengals Animal Transport As of 2002, Liberty has allowed passingers to travel with their pets. In 2003, Liberty restricted the type of pets that were allowed onboard to Cats and Dogs only. Liberty has their own brand of pet carrier designed for smaller cats and dogs that can fit under the seats for comfort. Those can be purchased on their online store via libertyair.com. '' '''Corporate Identity ' Logo In 1969, Ivan Chermayeff designed the famous Liberty logo.[97][98] Sixteen years later, in 1985, Liberty Air Lines merged with Velocity Airways and John Lloyd of Lloyd Associates designed the newly named "Liberty Air" logo. That same year, Liberty was able to make its logo Internet-compatible by buying the domain Libertyair.com. On April 24, 2013, after the Liberty-California merger was announced, Liberty launched a new rebranding and marketing campaign titled, "Discover". This included a new logo and a new livery.[99] Fleet